Biography

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Steven Rattner page on 23 June 2024, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is an American investor, media commentator, and former journalist. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Willett Advisors, the private investment firm that manages billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal and philanthropic assets. He began his career as an economic reporter for The New York Times before moving to a career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to deputy chairman and deputy chief executive officer. He then became a managing principal of the Quadrangle Group, a private equity investment firm that specialized in the media and communications industries.

In February 2009, with General Motors and Chrysler insolvent, Rattner was appointed counselor to the United States Secretary of the Treasury and lead auto adviser, a role informally referred to in the media as the "car czar". He soon assembled a team that grew to 14 professionals to address the financial problems of the two auto companies.

Reporting to both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, the head of the National Economic Council, Rattner's team developed a plan to save both the two manufacturers and related suppliers and finance companies. The plan involved a government investment of $82 billion in the sector, coupled with controlled bankruptcies for the two auto companies, as well as new management for both, and the closure of 2,000 automobile dealerships and loss of tens of thousands of related jobs. A White & Case lawyer claimed that Rattner had threatened the reputation of Perella Weinberg if they continued to oppose the controlled bankruptcies; however Parella Weinberg denied this claim and The New York Times found that Rattner had never spoken with the lawyer who made the claim.

Rattner later stated that the toughest decision for President Obama about the two auto companies was whether to save Chrysler. There was, however, no disagreement about asking GM CEO Richard Wagoner to step aside.

By July 2009, both automakers had emerged from bankruptcy, had new management and were on their way to profitability. At that time, Rattner left Washington and returned to private life in New York.

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